Owners Steve Sheehy and Davis Bergman were thrilled with the house but found themselves wondering what on earth to do with the garden. "We took one look and knew that the kitchen needed French doors opening onto the yard," remembers Steve. "But that gave us a terrific view of the concrete slab that covered the yard and the stucco retaining wall opposite that marks the southern boundary."

As non-gardeners, they knew professional help was needed. Enter David Pfeiffer who, as Davis recalls, "looked around for 15 minutes and announced that he knew exactly what to do. Within a week he produced the perfect design."

Perfection, for Pfeiffer, lies in creating a strong connection between the house interior and exterior, so that each area is a space for living, with only the most subtle differences between the two. "I want to enable clients to live as easily outdoors as they do indoors," says Pfeiffer, describing his approach. "I achieve this by arranging the space like a floor plan. This ensures a very organized garden, but then I disguise and soften it with the generous use of plants chosen for their foliage."